Tis the Season
by mereschino
Summary: (ficlet) it’s James and Lily’s first Christmas together away from Hogwarts and they are planning on having a wonderful time. But can their tempers really be controlled long enough for this dream to happen? (only rated for swearing and a kiss)


Disclaimer: I own nothing that has been copyrighted by J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers anything, or Santa Claus/Hallmark.

Author note: I just wanted to write a little something for the holidays but only came up with the idea as I was on my way to my grandparents' house on Boxing Day, so this is a delayed piece of holiday writing. And as I haven't had much time to write this and it is after New Years, I am really sorry about it being so delayed. The story is just about James and Lily's first Christmas together away from Hogwarts (which I know has been done a million times.) I brought back my two original characters from my first James/Lily story (Summer and Emma), if you read that. I also know that people don't like original characters but they are hardly mentioned so don't worry. Now onto the story.

* * *

'Happy almost Christmas James!'

James Potter poked his head out of the covers to stare at the giddy redhead who had just launched herself onto his bed.

'Where did you come from?'

Lily Evans crawled towards him to rest beside him on the pillows. 'My place. After you dropped me off last night and kissed me under the mistletoe, I realized that Christmas was only a few days away. That got me so excited that I couldn't sleep and as soon as it was a decent hour, I decided to come over here and wake you up so that you could share the Christmas fun with me.'

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, James pushed himself up to sit against the headboard and looked down at his girlfriend. 'So you decided to come over and wake me up by pouncing on me, even though if you'd accepted my invitation to stay with me last night, you could've done the same thing and we could've had some fun beforehand. And don't look at me like that; I know my bed head is ruddy out of control.'

Keeping an innocent look on her face, Lily replied, 'to be perfectly honest, I can't tell the difference between it and your normal hair.'

'Ha bloody ha. But I don't get it. You never used to be this excited about Christmas at Hogwarts. '

'True, but this is our first Christmas on our own where we have to worry about more than just getting presents for everyone. I imagine Sirius must be going out of his mind.'

James smiled, thinking of his best friend. Though Sirius Black loved the holiday season, he wasn't one for organization… or patience for that matter. 'Maybe, but I think Remus will be able to keep him in check. He can always threaten Sirius with taking away his cookies.'

'I can't believe Remus and Sirius are living together. I mean, 7 years at Hogwarts is one thing but they always had you and Peter to balance them out. I can imagine even Remus' patience might be wearing thin by now.'

'But you have to remember that Summer is taking that course over in America, and I don't think Sirius will ever really settle down, even if Emma is the one for him, so the boys weren't going to be living with their lady friends.'

Lily snuggled into her boyfriend's side, enjoying the feel of his arms wrapped around her as she thought of her own two best friends. Summer O'Hara and Emma Andrews had been instrumental in getting her and James together after a 6 year long friendship where Lily didn't have the guts to realize what her feelings truly meant and James didn't have the guts to tell her the truth about his.

James brushed the hair away from her forehead with one hand. 'But knowing you, you didn't just come over here to talk about the excitement of the season. What do you really want?'

Lily pulled back to look at him innocently. 'A big strong man to help me with my Christmas tree?'

'Lils, that's what magic is for. Just levitate the tree or shrink it or something.'

A puppy dog look appeared on her face, and Lily made her bottom lip tremble, knowing James could never resist it. 'But I need someone to help me pick out the best one, and I want that someone to be you.'

James groaned and flopped back down to his pillows. 'Fine, but later. Right now I need more sleep.'

'Mind if I sleep here with you?'

'Do I ever?'

Lily smiled as James held out the covers for her, and she slid in next to him.

* * *

'This one, James. I want this one.'

James wandered over to where Lily was standing and took in the mammoth tree she had selected. 'You just had to pick the biggest one on the lot, didn't you?'

She smiled at him, liking the little curls that stuck out from under the sides of his toque. 'Of course. The biggest one is usually the best, and my house has really high ceilings. Besides, just think about how fun it will be to decorate.'

'Lily, this thing is enormous!'

'It is not. It's only a little bit taller than you. I think it's the width that throws you off. But aren't you the one who just told me to shrink it?'

James entwined one of his gloved hands with Lily's and kissed her cheek. 'I'm not even thinking of how to get it back to your house. I'm thinking of how hard it's going to be to set it up, and then I'll have to do it all over again with the tree for my place.'

'Don't worry; I'll be there to help you. And if between the two of us, we still can't get it right, we'll just bribe Sirius and Remus with cookies and eggnog to come over and do it.'

'What about Peter?'

'You can ask Peter if you'd like, but can you really see him successfully setting up a Christmas tree?'

James laughed, pulling Lily closer to him. 'Touché.'

* * *

'Alright James, it's just a little farther. You're almost there.'

'Lily, I can't see a bloody thing. This tree weights a million pounds and I have pine needles in my eyes,' James mumbled around a mouthful of evergreen.

Lily could only laugh at the sight of her boyfriend, even though the only visible part of his body was the arms grasping around the tree. 'Well, you were the one who wanted to be all manly and tough and unshrink the tree. I was perfectly willing to let you float it to the spot I wanted and then enlarge. You brought this upon yourself. But you can let go of the tree now.'

James immediately dropped the tree, causing it to lean against the wall right behind it. 'Thank god. Remind me to never try and show off in front of you again.'

'Don't get too comfortable yet,' was Lily's reply as James flopped down onto the living room couch. 'That's the general corner that I wanted for the tree, but we still have to put it in its stand, and place the stand in the right place. And then we'll have to spin it around to make sure the best side faces outwards, and we can probably put the lights up as well. The branches can settle and fall around the lights; it won't change things that much.'

'I didn't know one could get so anal about the placement of a Christmas tree.' James stretched out on the couch and kicked his boots off.

Lily only shot him a glare and then banished his dirty boots to the mat by her front door. 'I'm going to choose to ignore your pessimistic nature, and go and get the tree stand. Be back in a sec.'

Lily turned and ran up her stairs, leaving James to relax on her couch. But his relaxation was short-lived, as his girlfriend was quickly back by his stand with a rusty white tree stand. Sighing, James heaved himself off the couch. 'Alright, let's get this bad boy up and ready. It'll be as easy as pie.'

However, this task was easier said than done. No sooner had James gotten within three feet of the tree did it slip off the wall and fall right on top of him. Things just got worse for the poor boy from there. Once the tree was upright and secure in its stand, Lily made James shift it around in the corner until she thought it was perfect. These shifts were often of 10˚ or less, as Lily liked the general look but it wasn't exactly right yet. Then, after a half hour of James shifting the tree around, Lily decided that it might look better in the other corner of the room. This caused an entire room makeover, with wands making the furniture fly everywhere until the tree could fit. But apparently, this corner wasn't meant to be, and Lily decided that the tree really had looked the best in the original spot. James groaned, but went through with her every request. After all, he loved her and this was their first Christmas on their own and away from Hogwarts. He couldn't blame her if she wanted to prove that she was really an adult and could take care of things on her own.

Finally getting the tree back in the corner and at an angle that Lily liked, James sat back on his haunches and wiped his face. But his feeling of accomplishment was soon destroyed by Lily's hysterical voice.

'Oh shit, I forgot to chop the end off the trunk of the tree. Now the tree won't suck up any water, it'll die and then the needles will start falling off.'

James sighed under his breath. Lily's Christmas tree perfectionist attitude was really starting to get to him. 'Lils, you bought this tree from a magical lot. There are tons of charms on it to make sure the tree doesn't dry out and shed, and remain smelly pine fresh for as long as you have it up.'

'Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot.'

He only shook his head, but then got up and headed for the door.

Lily followed him in surprise. 'Where are you going?'

James looked up, also puzzled as he put his boots on. 'Home. I have to go and get my own tree to put up.'

'But we aren't done here.'

He looked at Lily in disbelief, momentarily getting sidetracked at the realization that her Christmas spirit had brought a beautiful blush to her cheeks. 'We aren't? What in Merlin's name is there left to do? You said it yourself that the real decoration can't be done until tomorrow.'

'True, but I do need you to help me put the lights up, which can be done today.'

'Fine, but that's it. After the lights, no more until tomorrow.'

'Deal.'

James was quite relieved at that. He didn't know how much more of Lily breathing down his neck about every little thing he could take.

Kicking off his boots, James grabbed his wand, and charmed the strands of lights to float towards the tree. Just as he was about to wind them around the evergreen, Lily put a hand on his arm. 'No James. The lights must be done by hand.'

Stifling a groan, James froze the lights in midair, so he could go over and grab them.

'Ok James, I want the strands woven around the tree at equal distances on the branches. No strands too close to one another, but I don't want huge gaps between them either. You can start at the top with the white lights, but the coloured lights can be started at the bottom.'

'Yes, Lily.' James couldn't believe he was being lectured about the placement of Christmas lights, but did as he was told.

'Good…good…good…no James, not that branch, the one below it. No, not that one, the other- you know what, I'll do it.' In frustration, Lily stalked over to the tree and grabbed the string of lights out of her boyfriend's hand. She placed it on the branch that she had in mind, marvelling at James' inability to get it right. As if the branch wasn't the obvious choice!

But he was finally fed up. 'Lily, you're acting really anal, just like your sister.'

Lily stopped in her tracks away from the tree, and slowly turned towards him in disbelief. 'Excuse me?'

'I said you're acting just like your sister.'

'Yeah, I heard the words. I just meant, where do you come off accusing me of acting like Petunia? You hardly even know her, but you do know how bad our relationship is.'

James pushed his thin wire frames up from the tip of his nose. 'I'm sorry if I don't like being criticized about every little thing I do. I've set up a Christmas tree before, Lily, and I don't appreciate you standing behind me breathing down my neck.'

'Well I'm sorry if I want everything to be perfect. Is that a crime?'

'It can be when you obsess about it. Accidents happen, mistakes are made.'

'Not to me and not during the holidays.' Lily turned back towards the kitchen and started to walk, but James caught up to her and pulled her around to face him.

'Don't take your anger out on me. I know how hard the holiday season can be for some people, and I know it'll be harder this year because you just lost your parents.'

Lily immediately stiffened as her eyes filled with tears. 'What do you know about it? Your parents are still around. You can't possibly know what I'm feeling.'

'How can I if you never talk to me about them?'

'I can't. It just hurts too much. I thought you understood that.'

'Lils-'

'And then you compare me to the one living family member I have left, who hates me more than anything in the world, and you expect me not to be angry at you?'

'All I meant was that you were acting a bit bossy.' James' glasses were slipping down the bridge of his nose again and he pushed them back up impatiently. "It's kind of hard to be around you when you get bossy like that.'

'Fine, then don't be around me. If it bothers you that much, get out.'

'C'mon, Lily.'

'No, I mean it. Get out.'

'For Merlin's sake, it was just an offhand comment, nothing to get so worked up over.'

Lily just glared at him, which only fuelled the temper that was beginning to rise. 'You know what? I will leave. You don't want to be around me, I don't want to be around you and your attitude is enough to make any man turn tail and run. I'd rather go and spend time with the Black family's house elf than spend another moment here with you acting like a bitch.'

'You do that. The feeling is mutual, you stupid prat.'

James headed towards the door, grabbing his jacket from the back of the couch on his way. 'Owl me when you've gotten your head out of your arse.'

Lily picked up a vase and threw it at his back, but James managed to get through the door and close it in time. The vase smashed against the wood with a satisfying crash, china, water and petals flying everywhere. 'Thanks for ruining Christmas, you jerk!'

She flung herself onto the couch, eyes smarting from held back tears. Pressing her hands against her hot cheeks, Lily willed herself to calm down. They had these little fights all of the time, but this time it somehow seemed worse. If possible, Lily avoided the topic of her parents and James honoured her wishes so it seemed malicious that he brought them up now as a sort of reasoning tool.

Getting up, Lily walked over to the candy bowl on the bookshelf and shoved a piece of chocolate in her mouth. What a happy Christmas it was shaping up to be.

* * *

James stormed into his home, and passing by Remus and Sirius who were sitting in the living room, he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the icebox.

'You okay, Prongs?' came a voice behind him.

'What are you doing here Padfoot?' he asked, avoiding the original question.

Sirius leaned against the doorjamb. 'Mooney and I got bored at our place so we, or I, decided it would be fun to come here and bug you.'

'Well, I'm not really in the mood to be bugged. Go find Peter. I'm sure he'll let you annoy him.'

Sirius laughed and shook his head. 'True, but in the end, he'd be the one annoying us. But I'm curious, did something happen with Lily?'

'I don't want to talk about it.' With that, James brushed by his friend and after quickly nodding to Remus, he pounded up to his bedroom.

Catching the look that Remus was giving him, Sirius could only shrug his shoulders. Walking over to the stairs, he leaned over the banister. 'You can avoid us now, but we'll be back in the morning.'

Quiet, the two Apparated back to their house, knowing it was wise to leave their friend alone when he got into a mood like this.

* * *

The next morning, James stumbled into the kitchen, eyes still half-shut from sleep. He wasn't surprised to find Remus and Sirius sitting at his kitchen table, reading the paper and eating breakfast.

'There's coffee in the pot,' Remus said, gesturing over his shoulder. 'Drink up, because we have a long day ahead of us. The lot will be busy and hectic, but we still all need Christmas trees.'

James groaned loudly, causing the other two to look at him strangely.

'Do not mention the words Christmas and tree together in a sentence around me for awhile.'

Intrigued, Sirius and Remus leaned forward in their chairs to stare at their friend, but the werewolf was the one with the guts to ask a question. 'I'm going to assume that something happened while tree shopping with Lily yesterday.'

James took a seat at the table and grabbed a donut off the plate. 'The shopping for the tree was fine, no problem with that. Plus, Lily looked so cute all bundled up in her winter stuff-'

Sirius cleared his throat, interrupting James. 'Let's get back on track Prongs.'

'Sorry. As I was saying, the tree shopping was fine but things started to go downhill when we got back to Lily's house. I started to set up the tree, but it was like I couldn't do anything right. Lily needed to have it just perfect. I must've moved that tree around a million times by increments just because it wasn't set at the exact angle facing the couch. But I put up with that, even though I was tired of her breathing down my neck. It wasn't until the light stringing incident that I lost it.'

Sirius smothered a laugh. 'The light stringing incident? Do tell.'

James only shot him a glare. 'First she had all these rules about the lights. I couldn't use magic to put them up; they had to be done by hand. Then the lights had to be at exact distances from each other up the tree. I was almost done but I guess I wasn't putting a strand on the exact branch level that she wanted. Lily practically tore the lights out of my hand to do it herself.'

'So what caused the fight? I don't think the wrong light placement was enough to do it,' Remus commented.

James stared down at the table shamefully. 'True, but my temper got the best of me and I made a comment about her acting anal just like her sister.'

Sirius sucked in air at that. 'Not smart Prongs.'

'I know, but you have to admit that she was going over the edge. I'm not stupid, I've put up a Christmas tree before. Then, somehow, the fight went from Christmas stuff to her family. I know that the holiday season will be difficult for her without her parents for the first time, but I don't know how to help her deal with it because she never talks to me about that kind of stuff. I guess I was just venting my inabilities on her.'

'Do you have a death wish?' Remus asked. 'Do you understand a thing about your girlfriend?'

James looked at him in confusion. 'I'd like to think that I do.'

'Then you should understand the magnitude of this holiday for her. Lily loves Christmas, this we all know. And Christmas is also the biggest family holiday around, and this will be the first Christmas Lily's parents won't be here for. So don't you think that she could be overcompensating for the loss of her parents by throwing all her efforts into making this Christmas go exactly the way she wants it to? She had no control over her parents dying but she can have control over how this Christmas goes.'

Remus grinned at James who was now staring at him and Sirius.

'I am an idiot.'

'True, but that was never under debate. I take it that after this news, you will not be joining Padfoot and me in our search for a tree?'

Getting up from the table, James shook his head. 'I got to go get some flowers and then do some hardcore grovelling. I'll catch up with you guys later.'

* * *

A little after lunch, Lily started to put the ornaments up on her tree. She would've liked to do it with James, but after yesterday's spat, she didn't know how soon she'd be seeing him. Lily realized that she had overreacted and was as much at fault as James was for the fight, but was too proud to owl and tell him so.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she put up the ornaments that her parents had left her. These ornaments had seen so many happy Christmases with the Evanses, and looking at them made Lily miss her parents even more.

Once all of the ornaments were where she wanted them, Lily started to put up the star. Unfortunately, she wasn't tall enough to reach the top of the tree and levitating the star wasn't working. If only James was there, he was tall enough to get it right.

* * *

After buying a bouquet of flowers, James apparated outside of Lily's house, but got no answer after some soft knocking. Trying the knob, James found that it was open and so let himself into her house. Getting inside, the first thing he saw was Lily on tip toe trying to put the star on top of her tree. But even after jumping, she wasn't even close.

A smile appeared on James' face as he crept towards Lily. As soon as he was behind her, he slipped his arms around her waist, and taking the star from her hand, placed it on top of the tree.

Lily turned in his arms, and stood on tip toe to look him in the eye. 'You really are an idiot, James.'

His smile grew. 'Yes, that I am. But in light of this special festive occasion and its extremely forgiving nature, am I an idiot that you'll accept the apology of?'

Lily smiled, and leaned in close. 'Only if you'll accept mine as well.'

'I think I could do that. I'm really sorry about what I said, and for not trying to understand about your parents.'

She put a finger to his lips. 'Shhh, don't even worry about it. I know that if I need to talk to you, you'll always be there to listen to whatever I have to say. I love you James.'

'I love you too, Lils. Happy Christmas.'

'Happy Christmas.'

Suddenly, James' smile grew devious. 'It appears as we're standing under mistletoe, my dear.'

Lily looked up but didn't see any. 'No we're not. I don't see any.'

'I said, it appears as if we're standing under mistletoe, my dear.'

She finally clued into his meaning. 'Oh…yes, it appears we are. It only seems proper that we kiss.'

In mock-serious fashion, James replied, 'it is tradition.'

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Lily leaned in. 'And who are we to defy tradition?'

THE END

Author note: sorry about this holiday fluff. Also way sorry that it's so late.


End file.
